Electrokinetic Mixing and Displacement of Charged Droplets in Hydrogels

Mixing in droplets is an essential task in a variety of microfluidic systems. Inspired by electrokinetic mixing, electric field-induced hydrodynamic flow inside a charged droplet embedded in an unbounded polyelectrolyte hydrogel is investigated theoretically. In this study, the polyelectrolyte hydrogel is modeled as a soft, and electrically charged porous solid saturated with a salted Newtonian fluid, and the droplet is considered an incompressible Newtonian fluid. The droplet-hydrogel interface is modeled as a surface, which is located at the plane of shear, with the electrostatic potential \(\zeta \) . The fluid inside the droplet attains a finite velocity owing to hydrodynamic coupling with the electroosmotic flow arising from the droplet and polymer charge. The fluid velocity inside the droplet is linearly proportional to the electroosmotic flow velocity in the charged gel and the electroosmotic flow velocity beyond the electrical double layer of a charged interface. It is found that the polymer boundary condition at the droplet surface and the viscosities of the fluids inside and outside the droplet significantly modulate the interior fluid flow. The ionic strength and the permeability of the polymer network impact the flow differently depending on whether the flow arises from the droplet or polymer charge. Finally, the displacement of a charged droplet embedded in a gel under the influence of an external electric field is undertaken. This work is motivated by experimental attempts, which can register sub-nanometer-scale inclusion displacements in hydrogels, to advance electrical microrheology as a diagnostic tool for probing inclusion-hydrogel interfaces. In the absence of polymer charge, a close connection is found between the electrical response of a charged droplet when it is immobilized in an uncharged incompressible gel and when it is dispersed in a Newtonian electrolyte.     

爆炸驱动液体分层现象和液滴尺寸模拟

爆炸驱动液体介质外界面的分散和破碎是气溶胶云团形成的重要过程。采用基于维数分裂的欧拉程序和Youngs混合界面处理方法,对中心药爆炸驱动甘油和水介质流场的液体分层现象进行了数值模拟。结合试验结果推断提出了液滴形成过程的三种并存机制:外层射流破碎、内层R-T失稳和中间液层"空化"破碎,分别建立了不同液层破碎液滴的尺寸模拟方法。对比给出抛撒甘油和水装置初级液滴的尺寸分布及最外层理论射流量。     

Maximum spreading of electrically charged droplets impacting on dielectric substrates

In this work, the electric charging effect on the spreading of droplet impacting on dielectric substrates has been investigated. The charged water droplets were directed on the paraffin wax and the Teflon-coated plates. The impinging behavior was visualized and recorded using a CCD camera to identify the maximum extent of the flattened droplets. Droplet diameter and velocity approaching the wall were measured as well. The diameter of the electrically charged droplet at the maximum spread turned out to be larger compared to that of neutral droplet (at the maximum spread), and the difference becomes larger with increasing of the electric charge ratio (defined as the ratio of the actual electric charge to the Rayleigh limit). This phenomenon is considered to be due to reduction of effective interfacial tensions between the liquid and the gas and between the liquid and the solid by electric charging. Finally, an improved model was proposed to predict the maximum spreading ratio for electrically charged droplets by introducing correlations on the liquid–gas and the liquid–solid interfacial tensions.     

Electrostatic instability of the surface of a volume charged jet of dielectric liquid moving relative to the surrounding medium

The laws of implementation of electrostatic instability of the surface of a cylindrical volume charged jet of an ideal incompressible dielectric liquid moving relative to the ideal incompressible dielectric medium and the stability of bending-deformation capillary waves developed on the surface are investigated analytically. It is found that there are thresholds for the critical conditions of implementation of the instability with respect to the jet velocity relative to the medium (Weber number) and with respect to the electric space charge (relative to the ratio of the electrostatic pressure on the jet surface to the Laplace pressure). The critical analytic dependence between these dimensionless parameters is found.     

Application of maximum entropy method for droplet size distribution prediction using instability analysis of liquid sheet

This paper describes the implementation of the instability analysis of wave growth on liquid jet surface, and maximum entropy principle (MEP) for prediction of droplet diameter distribution in primary breakup region. The early stage of the primary breakup, which contains the growth of wave on liquid–gas interface, is deterministic; whereas the droplet formation stage at the end of primary breakup is random and stochastic. The stage of droplet formation after the liquid bulk breakup can be modeled by statistical means based on the maximum entropy principle. The MEP provides a formulation that predicts the atomization process while satisfying constraint equations based on conservations of mass, momentum and energy. The deterministic aspect considers the instability of wave motion on jet surface before the liquid bulk breakup using the linear instability analysis, which provides information of the maximum growth rate and corresponding wavelength of instabilities in breakup zone. The two sub-models are coupled together using momentum source term and mean diameter of droplets. This model is also capable of considering drag force on droplets through gas–liquid interaction. The predicted results compared favorably with the experimentally measured droplet size distributions for hollow-cone sprays.     

An Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup

In this paper we present a numerical model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup using an Eulerian–Lagrangian coupling. To picture the unresolved droplet formation near the liquid jet interface in the case of coarse grids we considered a theoretical model to describe the unresolved flow instabilities leading to turbulent breakup. These entrained droplets are then represented by an Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid concept. On the one hand, we used a volume of fluid method (VOF) to characterize the global spreading and the initiation of droplet formation; one the other hand, Lagrangian droplets are released at the liquid–gas interface according to the theoretical model balancing consolidating and disruptive energies. Here, a numerical coupling was required between Eulerian liquid core and Lagrangian droplets using mass and momentum source terms. The presented methodology was tested for different liquid jets in Rayleigh, wind-induced and atomization regimes and validated against literature data. This comparison reveals fairly good qualitative agreement in the cases of jet spreading, jet instability and jet breakup as well as relatively accurate size distribution and Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the droplets. Furthermore, the model was able to capture the regime transitions from Rayleigh instability to atomization appropriately. Finally, the presented sub-grid model predicts the effect of the gas-phase pressure on the droplet sizes very well.     

Multiscale simulations and experiments on water jet atomization

Numerical simulation of primary atomization at high Reynolds number is still a challenging problem. In this work a multiscale approach for the numerical simulation of liquid jet primary atomization is applied, using an Eulerian-Lagrangian coupling. In this approach, an Eulerian volume of fluid (VOF) method, where the Reynolds stresses are closed by a Reynolds stress model is applied to model the global spreading of the liquid jet. The formation of the micro-scale droplets, which are usually smaller than the grid spacing in the computational domain, is modelled by an energy-based sub-grid model. Where the disruptive forces (turbulence and surface pressure) of turbulent eddies near the surface of the jet overcome the capillary forces, droplets are released with the local properties of the corresponding eddies. The dynamics of the generated droplets are modelled using Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT). A numerical coupling between the Eulerian and Lagrangian frames is then established via source terms in conservation equations. As a follow-up study to our investigation in Saeedipour et al. (2016a), the present paper aims at modelling drop formation from liquid jets at high Reynolds numbers in the atomization regime and validating the simulation results against in-house experiments. For this purpose, phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA) was used to measure the droplet size and velocity distributions in sprays produced by water jet breakup at different Reynolds numbers in the atomization regime. The spray properties, such as droplet size spectra, local and global Sauter-mean drop sizes and velocity distributions obtained from the simulations are compared with experiment at various locations with very good agreement.     

Three dimensional phase-field investigation of droplet formation in microfluidic flow focusing devices with experimental validation

In this paper, the droplet formation process at a low capillary number in a flow focusing micro-channel is studied by performing a three-dimensional phase field benchmark based on the Cahn–Hilliard Navier–Stokes equations and the finite element method. Dynamic moving contact line and wetting condition are considered, and generalized Navier boundary condition (GNBC) is utilized to demonstrate the dynamic motion of the interface on wall surface. It is found that the mobility parameter plays a very critical role in the squeezing and breakup process to control the shape and size of droplets. We define the characteristic mobility M_c to represent the correct relaxation time of the interface. We also demonstrate that the characteristic mobility is associated with the physical process and should be kept as a constant as the product of the mobility tuning parameter χ and the square of interfacial thickness ε². This criterion is applied for different interfacial thicknesses to correctly capture the physical process of droplet formation. Moreover, the size of the droplet, the velocity of the droplet along the downstream, and the period of droplet formation are compared between the numerical and experimental results which agree with each other both qualitatively and quantitatively. The presented model and criterion can be used to predict the dynamic behavior and movement of multiphase flows.     

圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度数量密度分布相关性研究

压力旋流喷嘴被广泛应用于航空发动机、船用发动机、车用汽油缸内直喷发动机、燃气轮机等动力机械的燃油喷射系统中.以压力旋流喷嘴射流为研究对象,开展了圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度数量密度分布相关性问题研究.对于液体射流,以往的研究往往对破碎液滴粒径数量密度分布或速度数量密度分布进行单独研究,对于这两种数量密度分布之间关系的研究较少;从相关性的角度对圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度数量密度分布之间的关系进行研究.采用最大熵原理方法建立了圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度联合概率密度函数.对圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度联合概率密度函数进行了讨论,对圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径数量密度分布与速度数量密度分布的相关性问题进行了研究.研究结果表明,为了给出正确的圆环旋转黏性液体射流破碎液滴粒径与速度联合概率密度函数,射流守恒约束条件中必须同时包括质量守恒定律、动量守恒定律以及能量守恒定律;破碎液滴粒径的数量密度分布与速度数量密度分布密切相关;射流旋转强度对破碎液滴粒径数量密度与速度数量密度分布结构影响不大,对破碎液滴粒径数量密度和速度数量密度的分布区域影响较大.      

滴状模式下液桥形成及断裂的电流体动力学特性研究

对电场作用下微通道荷电液滴脱落过程中液桥形成及断裂的显微演变特征进行了可视化实验研究.借助时空分辨率较高的高速摄像技术精确捕捉了电场作用下液桥形成及断裂的界面演化过程,研究了液桥的界面结构变化及其断裂的动力学显微演变行为,获得了时间特征数、电邦德数及半月面形成角对液桥长度及断裂顺序的作用规律.实验结果显示,液桥断裂长度取决于黏度与表面张力之比,而受荷电弛豫时间的影响甚微,低电压工况下各实验介质液桥相对长度的变化并不明显,而在较高电压工况下相对液桥长度的增长速度加快.随着电邦德数的不断增加,液桥长度的变化在较高邦德数下更为明显且存在突变区,此时伴随着雾化模式的转变,表明液桥的突变恰恰是雾化模式过渡的信号.不同物性介质的射流过渡行为由于液桥上下游形成角的变化而存在较大差异.对于无水乙醇介质,电邦德数的增加使滴状模式首先过渡到纺锤模式,而对于生物柴油,滴状模式后会首先出现脉动模式而非纺锤模式.      

同轴气流式液体射流分裂液滴粒径研究

针对同轴气流式液体射流分裂液滴粒径预测模型缺乏的现状,结合射流线性稳定性理论,建立了基于临界模数的同轴气流式黏性液体射流分裂液滴粒径表达式,在此基础上,分别研究了气流旋拧(气流同时存在轴向和周向运动)及流体物性(气体可压缩性、液体黏性、气液密度比和表面张力)对液滴粒径的影响规律.研究发现:周围气流轴向引射作用和同轴旋转...     

Charged droplets evaporation and motion in an electric field

Monodisperse spray evaporation is investigated theoretically when a pure liquid or an electrolyte solution spray is charged and moves through an electric field. The solution of the equations in the case of electrolyte solutions gives the droplet size evolution down to the “equilibrium radius” when the relative humidity is high and down to the saline kernel when the humidity is lower. This solution also gives the dynamic behaviour in an electric field when the droplets are charged and are moving in a gas stream. A non dimensional curve is obtained for a given humidity, molality and temperature, independently of the electric field. With this curve it is possible to predict the droplet evolution only knowing a “middle time” of evaporation, calculated for a given electric force and a given initial radius.     

气流作用下同轴带电射流的不稳定性研究

通过对气体驱动同轴电流动聚焦的实验模型进行简化,开展了电场力和惯性力共同作用下同轴带电射流的不稳定性理论研究.在流动为无黏、不可压缩、无旋的假设下,建立了三层流体带电射流物理模型并得到了扰动在时间域内发展演化的解析形式色散关系,利用正则模方法求解色散方程发现了流动的不稳定模态,进而分析了主要控制参数对不稳定模态的影响.结果表明,在参考状态下轴对称模态的最不稳定增长率最大,因此轴对称扰动控制整个流场.外层气流速度越高,气体惯性力越大,射流的界面越容易失稳.内外层液-液同轴射流之间的速度差越大,射流越不稳定.表面张力对射流不稳定性起到促进作用.轴向电场对射流不稳定性具有双重影响:当加载电场强度较小时,射流不稳定性被抑制;当施加电压大于某一临界值时,轴向电场会促进射流失稳.临界电压的大小与界面上自由电荷密度和射流表面扰动发展关系密切.这些结果与已有的实验现象吻合,能够对实验的过程控制提供理论指导.     

The Motion Behavior of a Group of Charged Droplets in Liquid-Liquid Electrostatic Spray

The droplet sizes and electrical charges under different applied electrical voltages are experimentally measured for a liquid-liquid electrostatic spray system. Considering droplet size and charge distributions, the two-dimensional motion for a group of charged droplets in a liquid-liquid electrostatic atomization system is simulated. From measured droplet size and charge distributions, the simulation can obtain the velocities and positions in a two-dimensional domain for all simulated droplets at different times. The various forces acting on droplet as well as their effects on droplet velocity and trajectory are analyzed and the liquid-liquid electrostatic atomization characteristics are revealed. In addition, for one-dimensional motion trajectory of larger droplet, the comparison between simulation and experiment is also conducted and a general agreement can be obtained.     

On simulations investigating droplet diameter–charge distributions in electrostatically atomized dielectric liquid sprays

A general procedure has been developed for the simulation of charged liquid and electrostatically atomized sprays. The procedure follows a Lagrangian approach for simulation of spray droplets and a Eulerian approach for gas‐phase variables, including the electric field generated by the charge presence on droplets. Validation of the procedure was examined through simulations of previously published charged spray experiments. Results showed that for the specification of initial droplet charge, modelling the droplet charge–diameter relationship through a scaling law is as reliable a method as using a directly obtained charge–diameter relationship from experimental measurements. The normalized root‐mean‐square errors for sprays using the two methods were shown to be within 12% of one another, for the prediction of spatially averaged profiles of mean droplet diameters, mean axial velocities and mean radial droplet velocities. Results showed that the general spatial characteristics and dynamics of a charged liquid spray can successfully be reproduced, including the axial and radial dispersal pattern of droplets and the distribution of mean droplet diameters throughout the spray plume. For all sprays with droplet charges defined through a scaling law relationship, the normalized root‐mean‐square errors range from 9.0% to 31.6% for mean droplet diameters, 10.4% to 67.9% for mean axial droplet velocities and 16.8% to 38.6% for mean radial droplet velocities. Lastly, we present a brief set of general recommendations for simulating electrostatically atomized dielectric liquid sprays.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unsteady Liquid Jets

The behaviour of unsteady liquid jets in a gas atmosphere is mainly governed by the conservation of momentum and the interaction with the environment. In this article it will be shown that many of the particular effects in the propagation and desintegration of unsteady jets are simply explained by the conservation of initial momentum. Many of the distortions and peculiar shapes of the liquid elements of the jet can be explained by a time and space development of weak initial distortions of momentum in travelling waves during propagation.The first part of the paper is devoted to the droplet formation in liquid jets of moderate Weber numbers in the order of ten. In this regime and higher the surface tension is not the governing influence of instability of jet decomposition and hence of the droplet formation.If there is a high frequency distortion of the velocity which is artificially implemented in our experiments by a special device, but under usual conditions also existing by turbulence or source distortions of the nozzle flow, the concentration of mass in packets in a kind of shock formation is the main reason for droplet formation. The frequency of droplets in space and time is given by the frequency of the distortion. The amplitude and phase is also given by the initial values of the driver for these quantities.For large amplitudes and low frequencies the jets are decomposed in very peculiar shapes, which can be very simply explained by the collision of packets of concentrated mass on the axis of the jet motion.The whole range of phenomena can be understood in a theoretically elegant manner by a Lagrangian transform of the nonlinear equations of motion together with some plausible considerations about the lateral motion. Solutions for the droplet formation and the formation of liquid films in different shapes can be achieved this way.As an illustration of the whole range of beautiful and regularly reproducible details of jet decomposition some photographs will be shown which summarize the phenomena and give an idea of the importance of systematic investigation of the sometimes very confusing appearance of fluid jets.     

Unsteady Liquid Jets

The behaviour of unsteady liquid jets in a gas atmosphere is mainly governed by the conservation of momentum and the interaction with the environment. In this article it will be shown that many of the particular effects in the propagation and desintegration of unsteady jets are simply explained by the conservation of initial momentum. Many of the distortions and peculiar shapes of the liquid elements of the jet can be explained by a time and space development of weak initial distortions of momentum in travelling waves during propagation. The first part of the paper is devoted to the droplet formation in liquid jets of moderate Weber numbers in the order of ten. In this regime and higher the surface tension is not the governing influence of instability of jet decomposition and hence of the droplet formation. If there is a high frequency distortion of the velocity which is artificially implemented in our experiments by a special device, but under usual conditions also existing by turbulence or source distortions of the nozzle flow, the concentration of mass in packets in a kind of shock formation is the main reason for droplet formation. The frequency of droplets in space and time is given by the frequency of the distortion. The amplitude and phase is also given by the initial values of the driver for these quantities. For large amplitudes and low frequencies the jets are decomposed in very peculiar shapes, which can be very simply explained by the collision of packets of concentrated mass on the axis of the jet motion. The whole range of phenomena can be understood in a theoretically elegant manner by a Lagrangian transform of the nonlinear equations of motion together with some plausible considerations about the lateral motion. Solutions for the droplet formation and the formation of liquid films in different shapes can be achieved this way. As an illustration of the whole range of beautiful and regularly reproducible details of jet decomposition some photographs will be shown which summarize the phenomena and give an idea of the importance of systematic investigation of the sometimes very confusing appearance of fluid jets.     

Numerical Investigation of the Time Scales of Single Droplet Burning

The effect of gas phase velocity fluctuations on single droplet burning is investigated numerically. The main objective of this study is to understand the effect of gas phase turbulence on nitric oxide formation in single droplet flames. Since the interaction of gas phase velocity fluctuations with droplet burning is of sequential character, a separate investigation of droplet momentum coupling and droplet burning is performed. Momentum coupling controls droplet relaxation against changes of the gas phase velocity along the droplet trajectory and, thereby, determines to what extend gas phase velocity fluctuations translate into droplet slip velocity fluctuations. This coupling effect acts as a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency determined by the droplet Reynolds number and diameter. In the simulation of single droplet burning detailed models for chemical reaction, diffusive species transport and evaporation are used. A significant effect of slip velocity fluctuations on the mean values of NO formation rate is observed. The effect of slip velocity fluctuations on the mean NO formation rate is frequency dependent. The frequency response of the droplet flame is similar to that of a low pass filter. The droplet flame time scale characterizing the response to slip velocity fluctuations is found to correlate with chemical time scales. This time scale is not affected by droplet diameter.